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Key players in West Africa's seed industry are meeting in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, from April 9 to 12, 2019, to identify ways of working better together to supply farmers with essential agricultural inputs.

Organized by the Conseil Ouest et Centre Africain pour la Recherche et le Développement Agricoles (CORAF), this meeting will bring together the key players in a new coalition dedicated to the common goal of rapid large-scale seed delivery to known farmers. This new initiative is known as the Partnership for Agricultural Research, Education and Development (PAIRED).

This new five-year program is funded by the West Africa Regional Mission of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and piloted by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS).

Other stakeholders include scientific partners such as IITA, AfricaRice, ICRISAT, IFDC, FARA, national agricultural research institutions, the private sector such as AFSTA, ROPPA, Hub Rural, multinationals (in the seed sector), as well as financial and technical partners such as the World Bank, the African Development Bank and USAID.

After years of progress in disseminating scientific results to farmers, CORAF and its partners are determined to take up the challenge of providing farmers with access to quality agricultural inputs, thanks to a new approach. This new approach favours collaboration and partnerships between all the players involved in the field.

"Our laboratories and scientists have produced cutting-edge research results, notably in the creation of more climate-resistant varieties and seed technologies. These innovations are already available. Unfortunately, they are not always accessible to the end-users, who are the farmers and producers", regrets Dr Abdulai Jalloh, Director of Research and Innovation at CORAF.

"What we hope to achieve through PAIRED is the search for synergies and complementary approaches to implementing vital knowledge for farmers," he says.

CORAF recognizes the vital role of the private sector in transforming the seed industry. Stakeholders from the Alliance for a Seed Industry in West Africa (ASIWA) will also be meeting at the same time, to examine how best to strengthen the role of the private sector in the production and distribution of quality seeds in West Africa.